Educated, tamed,

Regulated, restrained,

Selectively cultivated, and

Creatively drained.

“I know who you are! You sit in the front.”

She announced with a smirk, being uncomfortably blunt.

She let slip a name, you know it I’d bet.

The academically domesticated, the infamous “Teacher’s pet.”

A confusing conclusion, for this seemed my mask.

“He’s obedient, intelligent, and always on task!”

I’d created a curtain, an illusion so smart

That nobody considered my courage or heart.

“His nose lives in a book.” Or so they’d assume.

“Nothing else matters, but the texts in his room.”

They’re wrong. They simply don’t know

That so much more is hiding below.

I think of pirates on sailboats on waters too treacherous

And caring for those that I would call precious.

From wizards, tornadoes and towns made of green,

To car bills, politics, and everything in between.

So why keep the curtain? Maintain the facade?

The world may find me eccentric or socially odd?

The truth is I’m waiting for someone worthwhile

To pull down the veil, go the extra mile.

May it be a classmate, a stranger, or a girl with her dog?

Someday, somehow, they will see through the fog.

The guy who aced the exam or created this slam

Everyone will see who I really am!